The one shining light from the Tuesday Massacre

The one shining light is that we elected three (count 'em, three) Democrats to the town council. This means, I think, that the Dems now either have a majority or at least parity on the town's governing body. I am thrilled about this. My only hope is that bush is egregiously bad over the next two years that the country finally wakes up and gives at least control of the legislature back to the Dems. The make up of Congress now scares the Bejezus outta me.

TV Host O'Reilly Accused of Harassment - EarthLink - General News

Jesus! I hope and pray that they nail the lying, two-faced thug on this one. His immediate counter suit and his polished onair counterattack lead me to believe that this was a well planned, well rehearsed response to something that he knew was, inevitably, going to come. He knew that his behavior was going to elicit a response, sooner or later, and he was damned well going to be ready for it. It was like a tripwire had been activated, and the couterattack just flowed.

I always knew that O'Reilly's monumental ego was going to be his ultimate doom. It appears that this very well could be the case. Of course, he could ride this out and continue on his bullying ways without even blushing about his attacks on Bill Clinton for essentially the same sort of behavior. To quote Mr. O'Reilly, "Shame on you!!"

Neighborhood WiFi networks, or, how to be cutting edge for cheap...

This is a very interesting little story about a possible future where the Comcasts and Verizons of the world find themselves on the outside of the "restaurant" with their noses pressed to the window. I read this and then think of my little neighborhood; you know, it could work.

I live in an area where the cheap houses go for close to $400K. One would think that one could get 10 neighbors to pony up, say, three grand apiece for the initial membership in the co-op (covers initial equipment and set-up costs), and then pay a percentage of the monthly cost for running the network. Once a homeowner joins the co-op, that house is a member and the membership right transfers to a new owner should the original member move. Thus, the original cost could be addes to the house as a capital improvement. If the new owners don't want to take advantage, that's their option. When I think about it, right now I'm paying about $57/month for cable, $52/month for DSL, $40/month for cell phone and about $70/month for two physical phone lines. That's over $200/month for those services. If I can bring that cost down to even $150/month, it is well worth it to me.

I, for one, plan to follow this story as closely as possible. Hell, even if I have to keep my cell phone, it would still be worth it!

THIS is the problem

A local NJ lawyer and Blogger uses this interview" of John Kerry by Don Imus to putatively make the point that Kerry 1) does not have a "good" plan to get us out of Iraq and 2) that Kerry is still "flip/flopping" on at least this issue. Unfortunately, Hondo is totally wrong on this one. He misses the first point that Imus never asked the right question--and that when Kerry tried to steer the discussion to that question, Imus flat out cut him off. (The "right" question is, of course, just what Bush intends to do get us out of the nasty pickle he has gotten us into in the first place.) And he definitely misses the second point, which Kerry was able to get out, that the current president is presently muddying up the water even more so it is virtually impossible for him (Kerry) to formulate any sort of specific plan until after the elections. Once he is two months from office, he, and his staff, can begin the process of taking over the reins of policy and planning.

Personally, all I want to hear from Kerry is the acknowledgement that the situation is grim and is growing grimmer by the day. I don't expect miracles from him, but I do expect him to bend every effort to achieving the best possible outcome from our misguided initial military invasion. George Bush has been the worst president this country has had in my lifetime (and I go back to Truman). He has consistently done the wrong thing in almost every area he has touched (from the economy through civil liberties/human rights to the environment and culminating in the twin disasters of international relations and this war.) The last thing I want to do is "stay the course" with this person. I am uncomfortable about not supporting him while our troops are on the ground and being shot at, but I think, in the long run, it will be better to increase shortterm risk because, if we are successful, it will lower the long term risk.

Daily I become more convinced that it is imperative to remove Bush from office. If we fail at that this coming November, I fear the damage to this country will be irreversable by the time he is forced to repeal the XXII Amendment in order to make himself President-for-Life.

Cell phones and cars

I think the ban on cell phones is dumb. A cell phone is potentially no more distracting than singing along with the radio...or letting one of those talk-jocks raise your blood pressure, or even carrying on a conversation with a passenger. Of course, the key word is "potentially". There are too many drivers out there who can't be trusted to chew gum and tie their shoe laces at the same time much less do anything other than pay strict attention to the road when driving. For these people, giving them a cell phone while in a car is like handing a loaded gun to a toddler: the ultimate result is sure to be a bad one. So, until we figure out how to weed out the people who should not be entrusted with a couple tons of metal travelling at 51 feet per second (that's 35mph,) the rest of us will have to suck it up and live with the ban on cell phones.

OK, so I am being a law abiding citizen in this respect and am not driving around with one hand on the wheel while the other holds a cell phone plastered to my head. If I do have to talk to somebody not in the car at the time, I use a hands free headset, like the law requires. And I get really pissed when I see some other jerk still driving around with a phone plastered to his/(or more often than not) her ear. I'm going to start carrying my digital camera around so I can take pictures...and post them here. I realize that taking pictures while driving is probably more distracting than chatting on the phone, but 1)it isn't illegal, yet and 2)I am capable of doing at least two things at the same time.

So, if you drive around with a cell phone growing out of your head, look for your picture here in the near future.

I haven't had time nor energy to post about local stuff...until now

OK, One of the things I'm going to do here is post license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions of poeple I see with cellphones attached to their ears. As of 7/1, we here in the Garden State are supposed to do our cell phoning in cars using "hands free" technology. That means an earpiece and boom mike, for the most part. It doesn't mean for me to look over at the car next to me and see a cellphone plastered to the side of the driver's head. I have my first two licenses and vehicle descriptions on a piece of paper in the car (I wrote down the particulars when I was stopped...even though it meant reciting a mantra of license number and vehicle description until I could write them down. Tomorrow they'll be posted here. And I swear to God that I will continue to do this until said practise stops. I had to get a phone with a hands-free headset and all. If I have to do this, then the rest of my fellow Jerseyites have to do it as well.

Ooops

In the process of updating the template for this Blog, I have managed to lose my commenting and my links. Bah! Humbug! *mutter* OK, I don't have time this morning to work on it any further. However, hopefully I'll be able to do some repair work this evening and all will be well tomorrow. I hope...*aaaarrrrrrgggghhhh!!*

I'm thinking about resurrecting this Blog

I'm considering resurrecting this Blog to be a Hyperlocal Blog for Somerville, NJ. We'll have to see whether I have the time and energy to undertake a project like that. I will try to do a little posting this week to get my feet wet, so to speak.